Bluffton working to expand Buckwalter tech village

As the town of Bluffton closes on about seven acres across from CareCore National headquarters, its officials say a newly formed public development corporation could play a major role in using the purchase to expand its vision of a technology-focused business park at Buckwalter Place.

The purchase, divided between a 2.63-acre parcel directly across from the Don Ryan Center for Innovation’s front window and another 4.57-acre plot across from the police department complex, doesn’t close until March 8, when town officials will detail the price. Utility tax credits and not taxpayers’ dollars will be used to pay for the land.

The news came at the inaugural meeting of the Bluffton Public Development Corporation, an entity that allows the town to “conduct business like a business,” said Frannie Heizer, Bluffton’s bond attorney working for McNair Law Firm in Columbia.

“In instances when a project really needs to be treated as a business proposition and a deal needs to be crafted…that includes aspects of commercial law, the town of Bluffton itself can’t participate,” she said. Specifically, the town can’t enter ventures with private entities, borrow against property, obtain commercial loans and other business functions, Heizer added.

Under its bylaws, the corporation can buy or sell property, among other development rights; make contracts; borrow money; lend money; invest and reinvest its funds to add to its own assets.

The corporation would have access to town money but could never enter agreements without Town Council approval, and its liable for its own debts, Heizer said.

“You would not ever pledge the full faith and credit or taxing power of the town,” Heizer said.

State law forbids municipalities from entering joint ventures, forcing them to donate land to prospects rather than tap it for future profits as a development matures, which Columbia managed to do with BB&T in its downtown building, Heizer said.

Bluffton could do the same while recruiting new companies, said Marc Orlando, director of growth management.

“(The corporation) could buy and sell real estate and turn it into joint-venture deals, all to advance economic development initiatives supported by the town,” he said.

Efforts to develop the technology cluster at Buckwalter Place, which will number about 30 acres after the seven-acre acquisition closes, heightened when benefits management company CareCore National moved to the area in 2007, eventually employing more than 500 people locally. The opening last year of the Don Ryan Center for Innovation, a business incubator that prioritizes technology-based ventures, further cemented the town’s focus.

“The gist of (the purchase) is that we’re greatly expanding our footprint at our technology park so that we have a major stake, and our development corporation will be a big part of that,” Orlando said.

The town’s concept plan calls for a new roadway extending to the right of the roundabout that leads to CareCore’s doorstep, creating a “corridor controlled by the town” with access to the new parcels, said James Ayers, director of Engineering.

To help get future developments off the ground, the corporation could also front money for “soft costs,” essentially indirect construction expenses, as a loan, said Town Manager Anthony Barrett. Transferring the seven acres to the development corporation when the sale closes is a “logical step,” but that decision lies with Town Council, Barrett added.

“This is just another tool for us to advance economic development in our community,” he said.

The seven-member board of directors appointed by Town Council meets Feb. 13 at Town Hall to elect officers and set a regular schedule.

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